Here's a weird thing.  A couple of weeks ago, my Vaio notebook that's been running sequentially updated versions of Ubuntu GNU/Linux for the last 2.5 years started playing up on me with apparently random lock-ups.  This didn't start after any specific event or software installation.  I've Googled this, looked in Ubuntu Forums (and indeed started a thread there) to find an answer.  The symptoms are:

1. Display frozen, except the mouse/trackpad pointer can be moved
2. No keyboard input
3. No trackpad buttons work
4. The ongoing processes are still running - I can login from another terminal

This always seems to happen when I'm using Firefox (I am currently on 3.5.1), which is by far my favourite web browser, though this might just reflect both the amount of activity when using that app as well as the number of times I use Firefox each day.  Often the hang occurs when I'm scrolling down a page (which I do by stroking the edge of the trackpad).

This event was originally to be run on the new Stagsden course, but was relocated to the nearby Astwood circuit because the start (or maybe finish) point in a layby was rendered inaccssible as the layby has been used to store road-mending materials.  This was a bit disappointing, as I haven't ridden that course before.  Still, of the courses we use in the club league, Astwood's probably my favourite.  The morning was really windy, and quite blustery (in a continuation of the weather patterns of late).

During the day, the wind strengthened alarmingly.  Fortunately it moderated a bit by the time we started the event.  The strong wind had a curiously variable effect out on the course.  I presume this was because it was a rather blustery wind.  Anyway, it proved quite a slog much of the time down to Chicheley, but once round the turn, things were a bit easier.  Indeed the section through the village of North Crawley, which is usually a bit tough to pick up the speed was quite brisk.

One of the more bizarre features of the Phorm business model has always been the question of why businesses would allow their webpages to be scanned by Phorm's deep packet inspection system.  My understanding of Phorm's system is that individual web users' browsing habits are monitored by kit installed within the ISP's infrstructure, and that key words are extracted from visited web pages and used to target advertisements to the user.

What's always surprised me is that companies weren't flocking to request their exclusion from this system: after all if web users are looking through my product line, why would I want them to be offered adverts from my competitors?

This morning I rode over to Tempsford to help out at the North Middx & Herts '100' - the organiser having emailed a plea for assistance.  Being a kindly soul (and having been in the position of desperately hunting for marshals and other helpers for an Association event in the past), I immediately accepted, but requested a role late in the event as I was planning to cycle over.  In the end I was asked to help the timekeeper by noting riders' numbers as they passed the finish point.

This was a novel version of the F1/100, apparently necessary because a triathlon was being held on the roads normally used for the event.  Essentially, the course used this morning had the riders doing Tempsford to Buckden three times (this being on the A1), then exiting at the Black Cat roundabout to do two laps of a finishing circuit on the A421.

A few weeks ago Tony persuaded me to enter the API/Metrow '25' on the E2/25 near Newmarket.  I bunged off an entry and unfortunately ended up in the opposite end of the start sheet from Tony, which would have meant a fair bit of hanging around for both of us.  On the day, it was really quite blustery, with a what we expected to be a strong headwind out to the turn.

We set off in good time, arriving in Newmarket with well over an hour to go before Tony's start time.   Here, our problems began.  Trying to follow the directions to the race HQ given on the start sheet proved completely impossible.  There was a total absence of riders milling about (usually a sure guide to where a race HQ is), which didn't help.  After cruising around Newmarket for a bit, Tony only had about 20 minutes to go before his scheduled start, so we drove off to the start to see what was there.  Lo and behold, some people on the start line, and down a nearby lane, some cars with riders warming up on turbos.  We stopped to ask these riders where the HQ was - turned out the start sheet was woefully inadequate.

Well, switching hosting company was pretty straightforward, though I'm not sure how quickly the "real" domain name will be active.  For the time being, the site's reachable at http://www.rsaunder.myzen.co.uk.

My new hosting company uses cpanel to administer the account, which appears to be an improvement over the previous setup.   The pages seem a bit quicker to open, though it remains to be seen whether I get 500 internal server errors.

Well, I have taken the decision to switch to a new web hosting company.  The repeated "500 internal server error" events (which included about 12h solid early this week), coupled with totally inadequate response for the "technicians" at my current hosting company have swung my decision to act.  By totally inadequate, I mean that I received a prompt "cut and paste" response on 13th July, and not a whisper since.

I'll migrate the site as soon as I can make a backup of the database and files.  Unfortunately, this probably means the site will be moribund for a few days.  This affects both the main Flies & Bikes site and the Wonderful Life blog.

It was rather wet when I set off from this house in the morning, and while the weather dried up, the rather strong wind did not moderate appreciably.  A modest field of 13 riders was possibly due to it being holiday season.  The strong wind was blowing almost directly in our faces at the start, and so made it hard on the ride up to the dual carriageway section - at times I was well below 20 mph, though having the rider in front getting closer was a bit of a carrot.  Once up on the dual carriageway, the bike was a bit twitchy at times to the turn (I was riding the Hed trispokes). 

As usual the lovely smooth surface on the new road made things easier, and in particular, the return leg was pretty quick, and I finished with 23:31, which must be one of my better times on this course.

Apologies for the intermittent service over the last 24 hours.  I appear to be having database issues, which I'm trying to rectify.  I'd expect access to the site to be a bit flaky for the next day or so until I can get this fixed.

This video on how to unpeel a banana the correct way (the method used by monkeys) has popped up on a number of atheist-inclined websites (for the explanation, see PZ Myers' blog at Pharyngula).  I can confirm that the method works, even when steering a tandem.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBJV56WUDng 425x344]